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Since 2010, the Essex field hockey team has been burdened by a “Quarterfinal Curse” as they failed to reach the Division I semifinals.

In each loss, the higher-seeded Hornets struggled to score and fell by one goal. This year, Essex found its offense and broke the curse, winning the Division I state title in style behind a prolific offense.

The catalyst for the offensive change was the development of central midfielder Kathleen Young, who matured from a strong defensive presence in middle of the field to the team’s leading scorer this season.

Young’s progression to the most dominant field hockey player in the state is why she has been named the 2013 Burlington Free Press player of the year.

“She came to us as a freshman as a great player,” Essex coach Heather Garrow said. “Her confidence has built over the last couple of years. This year, she really stepped up her desire to make plays and get the ball in the net.”

Young, a junior, went from scoring a couple of goals in her freshman and sophomore years, to finding the back of the net 14 times this season to help lead the Hornets to their first state championship in 12 years.

“This year my coach told me, ‘I want you to carry, I want you to bring it in the circle and score because you can and it will help the team if you can do that,’” said Young.

Young’s offensive emergence this season was just another step for the talented junior, who participated in the Junior Olympics this summer and will attend the Futures Elite Academy in the offseason next year.

Young excelled in a more defensive mindset in her first two varsity seasons and was named to the Free Press second team and Metro Division first team last season as a sophomore.

“She’s just the complete package,” Garrow said. “She has speed, she’s agile, she can move her feet really fast, she’s creative in her playmaking and in her dribbling and dodging. She has great vision on the field, she is able to pass really well and she’s intelligent. She has all the pieces.”

The junior’s continued development came at the perfect time for the Hornets, who combined a talented senior class with Young and marched through the state tournament this season, scoring 13 goals in three games and allowing none. In the regular season, the Hornets allowed only five goals and scored 46.

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“In the past, we have always had really strong defense,” Young said. “This year, I think we capitalized on our strong offense, we have a lot of really good forwards who stepped up and started scoring.”

While the team’s experience and talent was a key part of the Hornets championship run, Young was the spark for the most explosive attack in Division I.

“She was a driving force in a lot of playmaking and our goal-scoring,” Garrow said. “She does some pretty incredible things on the field.”

Young — who was at her best in the playoffs, scoring a goal and adding two assists in the final and netting a hat trick in the semifinals — is quick to credit her teammates for her success this season.

“We had so many strong defenders this year that I could afford to push up a little more, take some more chances, be more offensive and really challenge that defensive line of other teams,” Young said. “My teammates definitely make me better every day. We worked so hard as a team this year.”

With one more year of high school field hockey ahead of her, the scary thing for the rest of the state is that Young can still improve.

“She is going to improve, that’s just the kind of athlete she is,” Garrow said. “She has that drive to continue to get better. I’m sure that (assistant coach) Robin Noble and I will be standing on the sidelines, like we did this year, and every now and then we’ll look at each other and go ‘how did she do that?’”